Graduate unemployment

[DimPrawn]

A lack of IT skills never did Zimbabwe any harm.

[Mich the Tester]

Why hire an IT graduate for 18 grand and invest in his skills for a couple of years when you can get bob over with 10 years experience on an ICT for the same price?

The country is sleep walking in to an IT skills shortage in the next decade.

I agree. Modern management is all about finding the cheapest way of going bankrupt.

[minestrone]

Why hire an IT graduate for 18 grand and invest in his skills for a couple of years when you can get bob over with 10 years experience on an ICT for the same price?

The country is sleep walking in to an IT skills shortage in the next decade.

[Mich the Tester]

Maybe you were looking at the wrong type of jobs. Philosophy teaches you how to identify, analyse and solve problems, exactly the kinds of skills required in modern management.

regrettably absent

[threaded]

"Gemma James has an honours degree in philosophy..."

As somebody who has an honours degree in Philosophy, I can assure her that it is unlikely to be of any assistance in finding employment. The only time mine has even been mentioned by an employer was when the MD of a small software house told me that he hoped, one day, to go to University to study Philosophy himself; however, he hired me purely on the basis of my experience as an assembly language programmer.

Still, you don't read for a degree in Philosophy in the hope of gaining employment by it: you do so because learning is its own reward. After that, you need to know some stuff that can get you a job.

Good luck to them all, and I'm sure they'll be OK in the long run. Times were bloody tough when I graduated in the early Eighties, but we all seem to have got through the ups and downs eventually

Maybe you were looking at the wrong type of jobs. Philosophy teaches you how to identify, analyse and solve problems, exactly the kinds of skills required in modern management.

[NickFitz]

"Gemma James has an honours degree in philosophy..."

As somebody who has an honours degree in Philosophy, I can assure her that it is unlikely to be of any assistance in finding employment. The only time mine has even been mentioned by an employer was when the MD of a small software house told me that he hoped, one day, to go to University to study Philosophy himself; however, he hired me purely on the basis of my experience as an assembly language programmer.

Still, you don't read for a degree in Philosophy in the hope of gaining employment by it: you do so because learning is its own reward. After that, you need to know some stuff that can get you a job.

Good luck to them all, and I'm sure they'll be OK in the long run. Times were bloody tough when I graduated in the early Eighties, but we all seem to have got through the ups and downs eventually

[AtW]

Interesting article in the Sunday Times yesterday.

404 Not Found error for the link - this tulip started at The Times site many moons ago

[Clippy]

Interesting article in the Sunday Times yesterday.

I do have some sympathy for them as they now have to pay for their degrees.

I graduated during the last recession (early 90's) and had similar experiences - had to take a local cashier job but was able to get full-time hours. However, within a few months, I got a job with a large multi-national on a very good salary.

Very little chance of that happening during this recession!

Will be interesting to see how the graduates in the article fare over the next 12 months.